NBA Street Next-Gen

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EA's off-the-heazy streetballer returns. Fresh screens and details.

By Jonathan Miller

Don't call it Volume 4.

EA wants you to know that the next version of NBA Street is a whole new animal, with a next-gen overhaul and dynamic gameplay. We're talking create-your-own-trick potential here. The list of potential new features is long, including voiceovers from real NBA stars, a brand new control scheme, and defense that is actually fun. And no, standing under the basket and goaltending shots is not fun.

We shot some questions over to Street Executive Producer Wil Mozell. It's still very early in development for the next Street (we're talking six months, give or take, before we see anything significant), but Mozell was able to talk about the new philosophy of Street and where EA is taking its game in the future. Dribbling in the streets for hours at a time, apparently, is not in the works.

IGN: We know that one of your goals on next-gen consoles is to do away with canned animations for tricks to create a more organic, create-your-own-trick street ball experience. How does this year's control scheme differ from previous games?

EA: It starts with the objective of putting the ball in the consumer's hand. That is the moment that consumers have never experienced in basketball games, and it is what they should expect with NG games. Rather than pressing all four trigger buttons along with a face button to get a "more advanced" animation, we want the user to use the face buttons to manipulate the character on the screen in real time.

Look to be able to alter your dunk on the fly, literally.

IGN: The next NBA STREET is getting a defensive makeover, now you'll be able to get physical with offensive players instead of betting your ankles broken by a good ball-fake. What's your philosophy this year on the defensive side of the ball?

Mozell: Making "Defense as fun as Offense" was the key to the success of the first two versions of NBA STREET. This was mostly about blocking the crap out of your opponent in the air. However, we really haven't built on that since Vol. 2. Physical play gives the user more ways to get the ball from their opponent. I don't know anyone who has ever found "stealing" fun in a basketball game. You might as well roll dice to see what happens. We've found some simple ways to finally make defense FUN on the ground.

Defense wins ballgames. It will be fun as well, says EA.

IGN: It was an interesting twist to hear that this iteration of NBA STREET would be a next-gen title only, a departure from EA's other games that hit every platform out there. Why the 360 and PS3, and what are you doing on these consoles that you couldn't do on other platforms?

Mozell: Consumers typically buy NBA STREET because of its fresh visuals and gameplay innovation, which is why it comes out every couple years. Two years between V3 and this iteration is a long time to wait for a current gen game that doesn't raise the bar. If we were doing current gen, there would be too many compromises with our next gen vision. We're focused on significantly increasing the fidelity of the user's control, and the "user feedback" they feel and see on the screen. That's what next gen platforms mean to NBA STREET.

This time around, it's a bit bigger than two hoops and a chain-link fence.

IGN: The environments in these screenshots are huge, with multiple courts and things to do. When you play on the playground, there really is a playground. Also, you can see multiple games being played at once. Tell us about this shift to this "open world" and some of the activities we can do on each of these courts.

EA: The perception is definitely that of an open world. Truth be known, the quality of our environments would rival the detail in some of the best shooter and action titles out there. We believe it's the only way to make the consumer feel like these worlds are more real and life-like than ever before. However, it is critical that we focus on our core gameplay. NBA STREET isn't about buying a soda from a vending machine, or asking some dude on the street where to get a tattoo. It's about STREETBALL. So, that's what you will do on these courts. Fortunately, having multiple courts in one area allows us to provide a variety of challenges, as you would expect if you went to a real playground.

IGN: We can see you're not getting too much into specifics here Wil, so I'll ask just one more question. Can you tell us about the cost, how the controls work, online multiplayer, some new tricks and what NBA players lend their voices?